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Radisav Vidic, PhD
742 Benedum Hall | 3700 O’Hara Street | Pittsburgh, PA 15261 P: 412-624-9870 C: 412-979-0295
vidic@pitt.edu www.engineering.pitt.edu/RadisavVidic/ William Kepler Whiteford Professor
Sustainability and Environmental Engineering Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (Secondary)
NETL RUA Faculty Fellow
Prof. Vidic has 25 years of experience in environmental engineering focused on physical/chemical/biological processes for water, wastewater and air treatment with main focus on advancing the applications of surface science by providing fundamental understanding of molecular-level interactions at interfaces. He published over 120 journal articles and over 150 conference proceedings and reports that were cited over 6,000 times in the scientific literature.
Municipal and Industrial Wastewater Reuse
Reuse of municipal and industrial wastewaters is often hindered by scaling, biofouling and corrosion issues that need to be addressed effectively and economically. Based on the fundamental understanding of these phenomena, we are developing solutions that include both wastewater treatment (i.e., chemical and non-chemical) and chemical addition (i.e., antiscalants, biocides and corrosion inhibitors) to provide optimal control strategies for specific situations. Pilot-scale validation of the proposed solutions using real wastewater is conducted to validate research results under relevant process conditions.
Water Management for Unconventional Gas Industry
Development of sustainable water management strategies for produced water generated by the unconventional gas industry is of critical importance for the development of this natural resource. Advancing the wastewater reuse through treatment and blending is the key strategy for accomplishing that goal. We are focused on fundamental understanding of physical and chemical processes governing the reuse practice and developing models that can be used to predict kinetics and equilibrium of chemical reactions (e.g, softening, sulfate precipitation) that govern effluent water quality. These insights into the chemistry of high salinity solutions is relevant for a number of shale plays in the U.S. We are developing treatment technologies that would be suitable for water recovery from high-salinity wastewater (e.g., membrane distillation, crystallization) when the reuse is no longer feasible in mature well fields. The origin and fate of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) in the shale gas wastewater under a variety of water management scenarios (e.g., treatment, storage, reuse) is elucidate by both laboratory and field studies.
Current regulations do not address best management practices to protect water quality in institutional distribution systems that may include miles of pipes, storage reservoirs, heating tanks and other features. Technical solutions offered by numerous vendors require validation under relevant process conditions based on scientifically sound understanding of key process parameters and their impact on long-term chemical and biological water quality. We have extensive experience with testing and development of technical solutions that offer public health protection and are compatible with design and operation of water distribution systems.
